Characterization of habitats important
for bryophytes
Mires, mountain streams and saxicolous habitats in temperate areas.
Besides the components on bryophyte ecology and their patterns of
distribution, this research has been focused also on the detection of
bio indicator species as well as on the setting of predictive models
to be used as tools for conservation purposes
Patterns of distribution of bryophyte
species
Relating earth history events with evolution processes is one of my
most recent research interests, particularly with Sphagnum. In this
case Ive been studying the molecular differentiation of Sphagnum
populations as well as doing some preliminary work on the relations
between populations of closely related Sphagnum taxa in Europe and
Africa.
Phylogeography of Iberian deciduous oaks using molecular markers is
another project I have been involved as principal investigator.
Conservation studies
Working mainly with the bryoflora of protected areas in Portugal.
With this work many updates of the bryoflora were possible as well as
the evaluation of the conservation status of protected taxa and
populations. In addition, I contributed to the Iberian cartography and
the Iberian Red List with the taxonomic revision and conservation of
Sphagnum species in Portugal.
Rarity patterns and the causes for
rarity
This is a ongoing research topic in collaboration with Prof. Lars
Söderström. In this study, all taxa in a rather large liverwort family
are classified along several rarity variables. An evaluation of their
threat status (following the criteria of IUCN) is then compared with
their rarity status, in addition to reproductive and dispersal
parameters. In connection, I have been building up a taxonomical,
nomenclatural and distribution database for all taxa of the genus
Sphagnum that are recognized.
Most of the work is done in
cooperation with Dr. Cecília Sérgio, Prof. Rui Figueira University of
Lisbon, Prof. Rémy Petit (INRA, Bordeaux, France), and Prof. L.
Söderström, NTNU, Norway, together with MSc and PhD students. Some of
the results have been published in journals or presented in
conferences
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